JOB ANALYSIS RESPONSIBILITIES

Most methods of job analysis require that a knowledgeable person describe what goes on in the job or make a series of judgments about specific activities required to do the job. Such information can be provided by the employee doing the job, the supervisor, and/or a trained job analyst. Each source is useful, but each has drawbacks. The supervisor seems to be the best source of information on what should be done, but employees often know more about what actually is done. However, both may lack the knowledge needed to complete a job analysis and draw the appropriate conclusions from it. Thus, job analysis requires a high degree of coordination and cooperation between the HR unit and operating managers.

The responsibility for job analysis depends on who can best perform various aspects of the process. The managers review the efforts of the HR unit to ensure accuracy and completeness. They also may request reanalysis when jobs change significantly.

Job Descriptions and Job Specifications

In most cases, the job description and job specifications are combined into one document that contains several different sections. An overview of each section follows next.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS

A job description indicates the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job. It identifies what is done, why it is done, where it is done, and briefly, how it is done. Performance standards should flow directly from a job description, telling what the job accomplishes and how performance is measured in key areas of the job description. The reason for including the performance standards is clear. If employees know what is expected and how performance is to be measured, they have a much better chance of performing satisfactorily.

Unfortunately, performance standards often are omitted from job descriptions.

Even if performance standards have been identified and matched to job descriptions, they may not be known by employees if the job descriptions are not provided to employees but used only as tools by the HR department and managers. Such an approach limits the value of job descriptions.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS

While the job description describes activities to be done, it is job specifications that list the knowledge, skills, and abilities an individual needs to perform a job satisfactorily. Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) include education, experience, work skill requirements, personal abilities, and mental and physical requirements. Job specifications for a data entry operator might include a required educational level, a certain number of months of experience, a typing ability of 60 words per minute, a high degree of visual concentration, and ability to work under time pressure. It is important to note that accurate job specifications identify what KSAs a person needs to do the job, not necessarily what qualifications the current employee possesses.